Hatchers

I didn’t update this blog for a while, and there were reasons for this. One among them — I’ve started a new design studio — Hatchers. And this means more amazing things and much much more hard work.

Today I’m happy to show what we were working on all these months, our new portfolio and studio website — hatcherscreative.com

Please, let me know what you think about it! And spread the news if you like it.

And this is our new logo, by the way.

Nod Young

Nod Young is Chinese graphic designer and illustrator based in Beijing, co-founder and creative director of Khaki Creative & Design. His works combine modern trends of design with traditional Chinese art.

 

More of Nod’s works at Flickr and my favorites are inside the post.

 

 

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My new business cards

As I’ve ran out of the last few business card I’ve had, I came out with new design. This time I decided to go more fun way.
So here we go:

 

English side

Chinese side (usually I’m against two-sided cards, even though here, in China, it is an obvioous necessity. But in this case, two sides is a double fun)

Some details

 

 

 

 

Posters of Amsterdam

One of my favorite places at Flickr is a collection of posters from Amsterdam shared by Jarr Geerligs. This is a fantastic place with hours, megabytes and kilometers of inspiration. Thanks to Jarr Geerligs!

Amsterdam posters set

(+ Oslo posters)

 

Guanzhou Ads

I like to collect all kinds of visual culture stuff. Here’s a bunch of Chinese advertisements I’ve found on streets of Guangzhou. Some are funny, some are ugly. But definitely it’s something different from Europe or States.

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GDC 2009 (Shenzhen)

In January I went to Shenzhen and found there an exhibition of GDC, the first global design competition in China, which is held every two years.

Here I share with you photos of some exhibits from there, mostly posters.

Also you can view this materials at my Flickr space.

Shenzhen Findings

Some curious findings from Shenzhen, posters, signs, sculptures and just weird objects I’ve met on my way.

Also this stuff directly at it’s Flickr set.

Findings from previous trips: China (July-October 2009), China (October 2008), London (july 2008), London (March 2008),

Qian Qian

qian01

qian02

Qian Qian (b. 1979) is a graphic artist and designer based in New York City. One of the “20 under 30 New Visual Artists” by Print magazine, he has worked with such clients as Nike, Panasonic, Coca-Cola, and Motorola. His work has appeared in many international design publications, and exhibited in V&A Museum in London, and Lincoln Center in New York. He has a Masters degree in digital media design from the University of Edinburgh, UK, and had taught graphic design at Missouri State University, USA. In 2005, He initiated and curated Get It Louder, a ground-breaking design exhibition in China’s Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen.

Website

Profile by Apple

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New graphic design in China

{“Shadow Play is Fun!” illustration by Qian Qian.}

Recently I stumbled upon an interesting article about new graphic design in China. It’s an interview with Javin Mo, of the HK-based Milkxhake design collective. Actually, it’s been posted at Ping Mag more then a year ago but still up to date.

In Hong Kong, we started our graphic design history only in the 1970s. In mainland China, it’s been like ten to fifteen years maximum. And in the last seven years, I’ve seen a lot of interesting projects online by these 20-something people. I can see the freedom in spaces like Shanghai or Beijing, because contemporary art is super crazy there. These two art scenes are providing a really good atmosphere for graphic design. The kids can find magazines for their illustrations and open-minded clients for collaboration, especially when it comes to art- and culture-related product design. That’s quite different from Hong Kong where it’s pretty commercial: our art space is not as big as China’s right now. That’s why not many designers can just do art- and cultural-related things and survive…

 

Read the rest of the article here.

 

ICOGRADA Beijing: China Academy of Fine Arts

I feel like I had to start with this general post about ICOGRADA event in Beijing.

The last week of October ICOGRADA and Chinese authorities organized international design congress. It was a huge event that attracted designers from all over the world. The big kick to promote China and Beijing in the world and design in China. There were  many intersting exhebitions, lectures by prominent international and Chinese designers, workshops, performances and so on.

The main venue of the event was CAFA (China Academy of Fina Arts). This beautiful building is the new CAFA Art Museum, designed by Japanese architect Arata Isozaki.

And this is the logotype of the event, stylized Chinese character “XIN”…

And further I’m going to write what it’s all about…

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Exhibition: Beijing Typography 2009

Another interesting exhibition featured by ICOGRADA in Beijing was Beijing Typography Exhibition 2009. It showcases typographic works of international and Chinese designers (mostly posters, but also books, motion, light design etc.) in order to explore aproaches and trends in modern typography and embrase cultural diversity. You can read more about exhebition at Faces of Design. Personally, I discovered many interesting Southern Korean designers. Probably need to do some research on this country’s design.

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Chinese Graphic Design in the 20th Century: A Documentary

Last week of October was huge for Beijing. ICOGRADA world design congress was held in the city. So interesting! Unfortunatelly it was hard to visit even a half of events, though I spent whole days at the congress. In next few post I will show some pictures from exhebitions I’ve visited.

Like this… “Chinese Graphic Design in the 20th Century: A Documentary”.

Actually it was limited mostly by posters of communist era and advertisments of the beginning of 20th century. But interesting anyway. Especially to compare exhibits with Russian comminist posters I’ve seen so many times.

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